This invention relates to slide fasteners, and more specifically to a slide fastener of the two-way closable type having stringers with a pair of sliders positioned thereon reversely to each other so that the fastener may be closed from either end. The invention is even more specifically directed to means for locking as desired the pair of sliders against movement away from each other in their fully closed position on the fastener stringers. The two-way closable slide fastener of this character finds typical application on traveling bags, carrying cases and like articles.
There has been proposed and used a two-way closable slide fastener which has a lock assembly and a hook assembly mounted respectively on the bodies of a pair of sliders and in which the lock and hook assemblies are selectively engaged with and disengaged from each other for locking and unlocking the sliders. The interlockable sliders of this type are complex in construction and expensive of manufacture and assemblage because the lock and hook assemblies must be prepared separately and later assembled with the sliders. Moreover, in the use of the slide fastener, the lock and hook assemblies may loosen with the lapse of time so that the sliders may eventually become unable to be securely locked together.